


Say Cheese!

by Starkulous



Series: The Last 10 Days Of Irondad & Spiderson [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), iron dad - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Irondad Bingo 2019, Irondad Week 2019, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-15 21:52:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18507799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starkulous/pseuds/Starkulous
Summary: Flash is bullying Peter about his 'Internship' again, and Tony doesn't like that one bit.May may have asked him to stay away from Peter's school (Due to...circumstances) but that doesn't mean he wouldn't try and help his kid.





	Say Cheese!

"So here, sin(x) can be differentiated by the chain link rule, which also means, that Mr. Parker will stop staring at the clock and start paying attention." Ms. Norton called out.

The whole class turned their heads toward him, but Peter couldn't realize that soon enough.

"Mr. Parker!"

To Peter, every second on the clock bought him closer to the weekly 'Tinkering time' he shared with his mentor. He couldn't wait to enter the billionaire's lab, be greeted by the familiar smell of motor oil and caffeine and the sight of quality equipment stockpiled carefully by Tony Stark himself. It was like a dream.

Unfortunately, he was dragged back to reality by a nasty, wet spitball, probably the courtesy of flash.

"Dude..." Ned whispered in a hushed tone, "Ms. Norris is three seconds away from chucking you in detention for a week."

Sure enough, his AP Calculus teacher was staring him down from the front of the room."Mr. Parker." she seethed in anger, "Perhaps this is just review for you." she grits her teeth, "Care to share the answer with the class?"

He slightly panicked but glanced at the whiteboard and answered, "Y prime is cos x?"He felt that his underpaid, Dutch, petite teacher had more to say but was rudely cut off by the shrill piercing school bell.

The conserved cool of the students broke at once, and the class synonymously erupted in busy mayhem.

Peter walked with Ned to his locker and began stuffing his bag with books of all the subjects they had homework in for the weekend.

"So...' Internship' night?" Ned returned the pencil he had borrowed in English.

"Not sure about the night, but yeah, I think." He clipped on the plastic Stark Internship badge Mr. Stark had given him onto his shirt pocket. Once the guys at the front hadn't let him in, because though his 'Internship' had been a guise for being a superhero, it wouldn't be the first time some kid with guts tried snooping around the tower. Mr. Stark hadn't been too thrilled about the idea of Peter climbing 200 stories without his suit.

"So...what did Tony Stark say about my internship?"

"I talked to him, and he said that considering you hacked into one of the most advanced suits of the century you must be pretty smart" he grinned.

"Woah! So I get an Internship?" His eyes glistened with unshed tears of joy.

"Nope" Peter popped the p, "He says high-schoolers are not accepted because we need to have a social life."

Ned visably deflated, "But you are all the social life I have, Peter. With you hanging with Iron Man or swinging around the city most of the time, I have like zero human contact."

Peter honestly felt bad for blowing off his only friend for the past couple weeks, but in his defense, he was _busy_.

"I think I can talk to Mr. Stark about you visiting once in a while..." He brightened up, "Besides, you know the internship isn't real."

"What's that Penis?!" Flash interjected, seemingly from nowhere.

Peter paled, he tried backing away

"Ha! I knew it" He grabbed Peter by the collar as Ned watched in Horror, and shoved Peter's light frame into the locker.

"Lying attention whore" He punched him.

"Says he knows Iron Man," He punched him again.

"Says he knows Spider-man" He snatched the other boy's bag and emptied its content on the floors.

"You are nothing, Parker. Nothing, That's all you'll ever be. Don't even try to pretend otherwise. I see through you and your rubbish." He sneered, pocketed Peter's ID card and walked away.

Ned was petrified, appalled and angry at the same time. He helped Peter get out of the locker, and silently picked up the books and pencils scattered on the ground.

He was Peter's best friend. He was also Spider-man's best friend. Somedays, all he wanted to do was shout out to the entire world that Peter Parker was Spider-man. But he knew if he did that, his best friend would never forgive him. Peter didn't deserve this. He did everything NOT to deserve this. If he wanted, Flash would have been a boneless burrito right now.

Peter silently thanked Ned, pulled up his hoodie to hide his black eye, and trudged across the hall to the front gate.

Like any regular Friday, he saw a black limousine parked in the third lot. He mindlessly hoped that Happy wouldn't notice and that his eye would heal by the time they reach the tower.

Peter wordlessly got into the back and faced away from the rear mirror.

He was glad Happy wasn't much of a talker, because right now he was entangled in a web of his own thoughts and emotions.

_It wasn't fair._

Why did Flash hate him? Why was he so... _Angry_?

Before the bite, he had always been the nerd, the nonathletic easy target.

Bullies were something Peter Parker had accepted as a part of his life.

Unfortunately, they weren't something spider-man could stand.

Peter knew that Flash wasn't a bad person, just a world-class jerk.

Still, it would be... _easier_ if he _wasn't_ Spider-man.

It would be _easier_ if he didn't have the power to fight back.

It would be _easier_ if he didn't have to lie to everyone.

Sure, he helped a lot of people, but on some days, Peter Parker hated Spider-man.

At the same time, he hated his life without Spider-man.

Peter Parker was someone who aced Calculus, had a GPA of 4.3, and the highlight of his week would be building legos.

Spider-man was someone who swung through Queens helping everyone the best he could.Sometimes he wished he could quit being Spider-man, but he knew that the day something terrible happened and he didn't stop it just because he didn't want to, it would be his fault.

As long as he had these powers, Spider-man was his duty. He could never quit being Spiderman. But it wasn't like he could quit being Peter Parker either.

His head ached, his thoughts had been running in circles for the past half hour. He realized they reached the tower, thanked happy for the ride, and made his way to the front desk.

He bit back his emotions, "Ms. Diane, I misplaced my badge today" she shot him an annoyed look and began printing another.

"Thanks" he mumbled on his way out.

He silently made his way to the elevator, "Hey Friday, can you take me to Mr.Stark's lab?"

"Of course, Peter. Shall I alert boss that you're here?" her Irish accent rung out.

"Umm..okay?"

He pulled down his hoodie.

The elevator 'dinged', signaling that they arrived at the floor.

Tony was seen bending behind a car, trying to wedge something out with a wrench.

"Hey, Pete!" he was greeted by his mentor's cheerful voice as he stepped into the lab.

"Hey, Mr.Stark!" he tried to match the enthusiasm but ended up sounding fake.

"Quello che è successo?!"

"What?"

Mr.Stark only reverted back to Italien when he was extremely shocked, or confused why did-Oh.

The black eye.

Shit.

"What happened?!" He said indignantly "Who hurt you? Don't even bother with the patrol BS because the suit hasn't been online in hours." He hurried over to inspect the wound.

"That's going to need stitches..." he mumbled to himself.

Peter didn't realize that he hadn't just received a black eye, but had been punched hard enough to draw blood.

"Mr. Stark its nothing-"

"Oh don't you 'nothing' me." he grabbed the first-aid box from behind the closet.

"Look, I get that you have super-healing and stuff, doesn't mean roam around with a bloody eye till it heals." he dabbed a gauze dipped in Hydrogen Peroxide.

"Mr. Stark I-"

"What's his name?" he calmly crossed his arms.

"Flash" he whispered.

Tony walked over to the counter and picked up two mugs, "So, 'Flash' huh."

He handed Peter one mug of hot chocolate, "So, you want to tell me what this is about?"

Peter shuffled uncomfortably, "Okay, but please don't do something...drastic, Mr.Stark"

They walked over to the couch and took a seat, "Any bully doesn't have a place in any good college. I was 15 when I was at MIT, and this guy who called himself 'Blade' decided to get physical once. My dad sued his parents, y' know. Then, he disappeared faster than the Invisible Man. For the whole time I was at MIT, everyone decided to be... overly amiable with me. Except for Rhodey, but still, not a 10/10 experience." He sighed.

"So, kiddo, I'm not going to get him kicked out, if that's what you mean. But you have to give me something. I know, bullies are usually agenda-less jocks with a hidden inferiority complex, but what was this fight about?"

Peter had been silent the whole time. He looked at his reflection in the red mug and aimlessly swished around the remaining hot chocolate, "Flash is a jerk. I don't know why he picks on me, but even though I can throw him around like a rag doll, I know I shouldn't to fight back..."

He raised his eyebrows, "So you let yourself be used as a punching bag just to keep your secret identity...Peter that's...that's just messed up." He really felt sorry for his kid.

Peter chuckled, "Well, I mean if I did do something he would be lodged in the gym wall like bad guy #4879"

"But you can't. Again; messed up."

"It's okay, Mr. Stark. It's not like he was wrong this time, I mean he overheard me telling Ned that the internship was fake, and he called me a liar and stuff..." Peter got up and walked to the counter to put the mug in the dishwasher.

"So..." Tony started, "What I'm hearing is that if you somehow prove that the internship is real..." he copied the same actions "Jerky McJerkface is going to leave you alone?"

Peter shrugged, "For a while, atleast...but the internship thing is not real, and no, Mr.Stark, you can't come to my school."

Tony dramatically groaned, "Aww, what wouldn't I give to roam the not-so-free halls of a stinky high school again. C'mon kid, I know you're aunt's probably gonna kill me if I do that."

Peter grinned at his mentor's actions. "Hopefully."

"Ungrateful brat," he sighed contentedly "Okay Parker, you, drag your butt to the Intern level, 87th floor...or 88th ask Friday, and await further instructions." he dramatically exited the room.

Peter was confused, but he knew his mentor well enough to tell that he was up to something that wouldn't fail to amuse him, so he did as he was told.

* * *

 

Peter hadn't been to many other floors of the tower, mostly because the tower belonged to Stark Industries and he visited the Compound upstate more often.

He knew that Miss Potts had designed the tower herself, and he had to hand it to her. The intern level (that was level 87), had a posh polished marble floor, one long snack bar with a few coffee makers lined along the wall, a front desk with a grey stark industries logo that matched the room's aesthetic.

The room was lit with yellow ceiling lights that added to its grandeur. The only other wall was decorated with vertical wooden panels and had a framed logo of Stark Industries.

He marveled at the room's decor for about fifteen minutes, then his fanboying session was rudely interrupted by a brown coat that hit his head.

"Hey, Kid!" Mr. Stark strolled in, the latest starkphone in his hand.

"What are we doing here Mr. Stark?" Peter was confused.

"You'll see. Put that on." he grinned. He turned to the woman sitting at the desk, "Bernice, do you have that?"

"Yes boss" The woman, Bernice, quickly shuffled down the room with a frame in her hand, her pointed heels clicking against the marble floor.

She handed him the frame, "I don't like being- never mind, thank you, Bernice." he said.

Peter put on the brown blazer he was given. Tony cleared his throat and began, "In appreciation for successful work with the Stark Industries Internship program, Peter Parker has been awarded this certificate of honor on behalf of Stark Industries. What do you think?"

Peter looked at the certificate. Tears of happiness welled in his eyes. Mr.Stark had already gone out of his way to make Peter a suit, become his mentor, let him tinker in his own lab, buy him an Audi...and yet this felt like the best thing he could ever do. 

It showed that Tony Stark and Peter Parker shared a relationship that transcended that between Iron Man and Spider-Man.

He blinked away his sappy tears an engulfed his mentor in a hug.

"Thank You," he whispered. Tony was taken aback by the sudden display of affection, but slowly returned the gesture, "You're making me go soft, Kid."

As soon as they broke away, Tony handed her the starkphone and asked Bernice to take a picture of him handing Peter the certificate.

They started out with a formal and simple pose, but then Peter sneaked bunny ears behind Tony's head. Tony did the same. 

Before they knew it, Bernice had had to click about fifteen different pictures of the mentor and mentee in wacky poses.

That night, as Peter looked at the framed version of the picture, he decided that even if he was never going to be just Peter Parker or just Spider-man, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. There was a world full of people who cared just enough about both.

And if Tony Stark hung an A2 copy of the picture in his bedroom, made that his home screen and twitter header, it was nobody's buisness (he did).

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, this was inspired by that framed picture in the Endgame Special look!
> 
> So, I suppose this is semi-headcannon...
> 
> (You can check this series out on Wattpad, my username being HigherFurtherFaster-)
> 
> Word count: 2330  
> Days till Endgame: 9


End file.
